Roma - In the Heart of Europe, yet at the End of the World

Roma - Mitten in Europa, am Ende der Welt

Five hundred thousand Roma live in Slovakia - as much as ten percent of its entire population. Relations between «whites» and «gypsies» are strained. Anti-Roma demonstrations are a regular occurrence in eastern Slovakia. Lomnicka, a village at the foothills of the Carpathians, is exclusively inhabited by Roma, home to a population of about two-and-a-half-thousand. Its buildings are run down, the majority of them even unsound. Families of eleven are living on welfare of 300 Euro a month and without running water, electricity or sewers. Hardly anyone is employed here, and in winter children run through the snow in sandals, looking for firewood. Yet Lomnicka's inhabitants are still privileged among East-Slovakian Roma. Nine out of ten Roma in Slovakia are unemployed. They were and still are consistenly excluded from the labor market and there is virtually no chance for the Roma to free themselves from depending on welfare.